Words and Photo by Brenda Autry
Walking past the welding booths and glancing through the slats in their blue vinyl curtains, you’d never guess there was anything different about first-year pipe welding student Kacey McCallister. But look closer, and you’ll realize just how remarkable he is.
On an ordinary Sunday morning when McCallister was six, he and his parents stood outside their church waiting for cars to pass so they could cross the road.
“There were two cars and a semi-truck we were waiting for,” McCallister remembers. “I watched the two cars go by then I ran out into the road.”
Before either of his parents could react, the semi-truck slammed into him. Miraculously, he survived, though the accident took both of his legs.
McCallister hasn’t allowed his lack of limbs to slow him down much in life. A lifelong athlete, McCallister was a state champion wrestler and competed in track and field. And as an adult, he continues to challenge himself by competing in Spartan Races—tough obstacle courses that push strength, stamina, and determination to the limit.
He graduated from Western Oregon University in 2012 with a degree in education and spent several years as a full-time science teacher. Along the way, he got married and became a father to nine children—five biological and four stepchildren, ranging in age from nine to 24.
Although he loved teaching, McCallister always dreamed of pursuing another career path.
Just a year after his accident he was invited to speak about what happened to him and how he was coping with it at a Christmas tree lighting.
“I wrote a whole speech in my little kid notebook and afterwards I thought to myself, ‘I could do this. I could be a speaker!’ But how do you become a speaker?” He said. “You can’t really go to school for it. But little opportunities kept popping up for me to speak, and after I graduated college I started my business.”
McCallister started his motivational speaking business, Rise Up with Kacey McCallister, after graduation. As he began speaking more, he stepped back from full-time teaching and started working as a substitute teacher. These days, his business takes him all over the country, speaking at churches, schools, and any place that invites him. His message is clear: if he can do it, so can you. And what he’s accomplished so far is pretty amazing.
So why welding?
“I love working with my hands,” said McCallister. “My dad has a mechanics shop in Salem I’ve been working at for a while, but you don’t want to be working for your dad forever.” He sees welding as a new career path, one that allows him to work with his hands and apply the same perseverance he shares in his motivational work.
“When I registered I wasn’t really worried about being able to do the classes,” he said. “I’m very able. My biggest worry was that the instructors wouldn’t allow me to weld because of safety concerns.”
“I called Marc Rose [welding instructor] because I had a question about a required math class, and as kind of an afterthought I said, ‘oh, by the way. I don’t have any legs,’” he recalled. “Marc just said ‘oh, ok. Do you need any special accommodations?’ I said no, and that was it!”
Six weeks into classes, McCallister is proving that he can do anything he puts his mind to.
“When I first met Kacey, I was like, oh. I’ve never thought about how this could work before,” said Gabe Nye, McCallister’s pipe welding instructor. “My first thought was how do we protect his chair from the sparks, then I thought about how we can make him stable enough to work.”
Stability is essential in welding because it allows the welder to control the arc, maintain consistent movement, and produce a clean, strong weld. This is something that can be difficult even with two legs. So making sure McCallister could be stable enough to weld posed a bit of a challenge.
Protecting the chair turned out to be as easy as putting a leather apron over the seat. But finding a way to help him brace was a little more challenging.
“We’ve tried a lot of different positions to get him the most stability but I ended up putting a piece of flat bar in the table clamp and tac welding it to the table to give him an artificial brace,” said Nye. “It makes it a lot easier for him when he can use that table, but because we move around the shop a lot he can’t always be there. But he has a good attitude and just says, ‘well I won’t have that on a job so I have to get used to it.”
Despite the challenges that have arisen in the shop, McCallister’s can-do attitude and work ethic have endeared him to his instructors and fellow students.
“Kacey is pretty freaking cool,” raved his classmate Isabelle Verdun. “Realy, he can do anything.”
“He’s a super great guy. He jokes around a lot and he’s really interested in the nuts and bolts of welding,” said Nye. “He’s got a great work ethic too. He’s often the first one here and the last one to leave. He’s the type of student every teacher wants.”
For McCallister, the challenges are real, but so is his determination. He refuses to be defined by what he lacks and instead leans into what he can accomplish. “I adapt and overcome,” he said. “It’s challenging, but I’m doing the same stuff, just a little differently.” It’s a mindset that carries him through the classroom, the welding booth, and everywhere else life takes him.
